Clarett's Crazy Pre-Combine Struggles

I got a call one day in the fall of 2004 from my wife’s brother, who, like the rest of the family, worked in real estate. In his work he’d come across someone named Hai Waknine, an Israeli “businessman” (later referred to as a “mob figure,” “mobster” or “gang member” by the Los Angeles Times and various online news sources). My brother-in-law said, “Have you ever heard of a guy named Maurice Clarett?” and I started laughing because nobody who does what I do within 500 miles of a college football game hadn’t heard of Clarett.

After Ohio State won the 2002 national championship, Clarett attempted to declare his eligibility a year earlier than the NFL allows. His decision wasn’t so much trying to set a groundbreaking legal precedent as...

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